Thomas McLarty Thinks that if We Shut a Car Assembly Plant in Ohio and Send the Parts to Be Assembled in Mexico, We Have Created Jobs in the United States

The advocates of the Trans-Pacific Partnership must really be desperate. Why else would they continue to make such ridiculous assertions? (And why does the Post print them?)

Thomas McLarty puts on the show today. McLarty was President Clinton's chief of staff when they pushed NAFTA through Congress. He used his column to tout all the jobs created through exports as a result of NAFTA. He never once mentions the jobs lost to imports. In fact, the United States went from having a modest trade surplus with Mexico, to having a trade deficit of $54 billion in 2014.

While this rise in the trade deficit may not be all or even mostly attributable to NAFTA, in the context of an economy that is below full employment, a trade deficit of this size would be expected to lead to a loss of roughly 600,000 jobs.